Kakashi surveys this year's batch of genins. He actually kind of hopes this lot will pass. He does not want to be the one who crushes Naruto's dreams. All the same, he wonders who the other two are. The boy he has never seen before. The girl is an Uchiha; Kakashi wonders if she is related to anyone he knows.
As he is leading the three genin to his chosen spot on the roof of the Academy, Kakashi subtly studies the three twelve year olds.
Naruto saunters along with his hands behind his head, trying to hide how worried he is. His yellow hair looks like it was forcibly brushed that morning. Kakashi wonders why Naruto is wearing orange pants and an orange, blue and white jacket that looks too big for him. Kakashi wonders what Naruto is planning.
Madoka seems more serious, but Kakashi does wonder if his pink hair is natural, and if so whether or not the boy gets teased for it. At least he is not wearing 'I'm a target' orange, but rather a red sleeveless top with a white circle on the back and white three-quarter pants. He looks like a nerd, Kakashi thinks.
The Uchiha girl is not dressed like most Uchihas. She has a dark blue velvet bow holding her hair in a high ponytail, and is wearing a short blue dress with elbow length sleeves, that zips up at the front and a wide, white belt around her waist. Her white wrist-warmers reach to her elbows, but are balanced out by the white footless tights she is wearing under her dress. She probably favours taijutsu, Kakashi thinks. That skirt would give her a lot of freedom of movement. I wonder if she has sharingan? Girls aren't treated as harshly as boys if they do not awaken it.
As they are settling into their chosen spots on the roof, Kakashi realizes something: he's been given a band of misfits. Well, this just got interesting. He wonders briefly if any of them know medical ninjutsu. Wouldn't that be ironic: Sensei's kid, an Uchiha without sharingan and a medic. But Kakashi brushes that thought aside. There is no guarantee the nerd boy is a medic, or would even be able to do medical ninjutsu, and he does not yet know if the Uchiha has sharingan.
"Now," begins Kakashi cheerfully. "I'd like each one of you to tell me a little about yourself."
"Like what?" asks Pink Hair Nerd.
"Hm," Kakashi considers this and says, "Your name, your favourite thing, whatever you hate most, dreams for the future, hobbies - things like that."
"You should go first," says Naruto. "Since you are an adult."
"Alright," says Kakashi. "I'm Kakashi Hatake. I don't feel like telling you what I like and dislike. My dreams are none of your business, and I have plenty of hobbies."
"All we really learned was his name," Pink Hair Nerd whispers to Naruto.
"Oh you'll learn a lot about me if you pass my test," says Kakashi flippantly. "Now it's your turn. You can go first, since you spoke just now."
"Oh, okay," says Pink Hair Nerd. "My name is Madoka Haruno. I like studying, and I don't like it when people make fun of my hair - that's why I grew it long: to spite them."
Interesting, it is naturally pink and he is a nerd, thinks Kakashi.
"My dream is to be a better medical ninja than Tsunade Senju," continues Madoka. "But I'm still learning."
Oh no, thinks Kakashi. The Hokage is giving me as close to my old team as he can get. Does this mean the Uchiha does not have sharingan? But which one is obsessed with the rules and which two hate eachother's guts?
"And my favourite hobby is playing trivia games," finishes Madoka.
"Nice," says Kakashi. "You're next, blondie."
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo!" says Naruto enthusiastically. "My favourite things in the whole world are ramen and when Iruka niisan takes me to Ichiraku Ramen! My least favourite thing is when cup ramen takes too long to cook, and when Grandma doesn't let me eat ramen for breakfast, lunch and dinner - which is every day. My hobbies include pulling pranks on the Policemen - for some reason they just think it's funny. And I love hanging out with my friends and fishing with my Grandpa and stu-" he stops, shakes his head and finishes but saying, "my dream for the future is to be the Strongest Hokage who ever lived so I can earn the village's respect so they'll stop treating me like dirt!"
Kakashi wonders what Naruto was going to say. Studying fuuinjutsu, perhaps? Is Naruto planning to use that crappy profile and his test scores to his advantage, only revealing his fuinjutsu during the actual test? That had to be Iruka's idea. Only someone who had actually done a jounin's test could see the benefits of doing such a thing. Deciding to wait and see what Naruto is up to, Kakashi says, "Cool, now it's your turn girly."
The Uchiha girl frowns at him, she obviously does not like being called 'girly'. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha," the girl begins.
Sasuke? Isn't Itachi's little sister named Sasuke?
"I like training with my big sister," she continues, staring straight ahead, a frown on her face and a slight blush on her cheeks. "But I don't like it when she runs off with Shisui."
Definitely Itachi's sister. It seems someone is jealous of her big sister's boyfriend.
"My dream is to get a kitten," continues Sasuke. "And to awaken my sharingan. My hobbies are reading and training."
Well, I guess all we need is for one to be obsessed with the rules and have a tragic backstory, and for two of them to hate eachother's guts. Kakashi wishes the Hokage was there so he could punch him. Instead he says, "Well now that we all know each other, we can get down to business. Formal training begins tomorrow." By the determined looks on the three genins' faces, they all know what is coming. Kakashi continues; "Tomorrow you will be doing survival training."
"Survival training?" questions Madoka. "But we already did that at the Academy."
"I know," says Kakashi, oozing seriousness. "But this time you will be surviving against me."
Naruto looks scared and Madoka looks surprised. Sasuke does not move.
"Just so you know," says Kakashi, deliberately trying to scare them. "The test we will be doing tomorrow has a 66% failure rate. Sometimes more pass, sometimes less. But know this: out of all the 27 students from your graduating class only nine are likely to pass and become full fledged genin. The rest will go back to the Academy to try again some other time."
"Oh so that's where the extra students came from," says Madoka, nodding. "They failed last year."
"Exactly. Anyway; we will meet tomorrow morning on training ground seven so I can assess your skills and weaknesses. Bring all your tools and weapons. Oh, and don't have any breakfast unless you enjoy throwing up."
"How hard is this test going to be?" demands Madoka.
"The details are in this handout," says Kakashi, taking out the handouts he prepared with misleading details on them, but also a hidden message that explains the test if uncovered. "Memorize these instructions and don't be late!"
The next morning, Kakashi sensei arrives two hours after the rest of Team Seven. "Hey, kids!" he greets them with a wave.
"You're late!" Madoka and Naruto say accusingly.
"No I'm not," says Kakashi sensei. "I said we'd meet in the morning and it's still morning."
The genins looked stumped at that.
Kakashi gets on with the test. He pulls out an alarm clock and sets it down on a tree stump. "I've set this alarm to go off at noon," he tells his students. Then he holds up two bells and says, "See these bells? Your task is to take them from me before the timer goes off. If you don't get a bell, you don't get lunch. Instead you will be tied to one of those training posts and forced to watch me eat my lunch."
"So that's why you told us not to have breakfast!' realizes Naruto. "Boy am I glad Grandma made me eat breakfast this morning!"
Madoka shrugs. "I had breakfast because of nutrition."
Sasuke mutters, "Mum made me have breakfast."
"Well, you're smarter than other teams who have taken my test," smiles Kakashi sensei. "I think I'm starting to like you guys." Then he gets serious again. "However, there aren't enough bells for everybody, so someone is skipping lunch. And another thing: if you don't get a bell you fail the test and get sent back to the Academy."
The three genins gulp nervously.
"Only two of you can pass. If you don't want to go back to the academy, you better come at me as if you mean to kill or you will not get a bell."
"But that's dangerous!" protests Madoka. "Someone could get hurt!"
"I don't care," says Naruto. "I'm getting one of those bells."
"Well then," says Kakashi sensei. "Ready? Steady… GO!"